Famous QuotesBenny Goodman(1909-86)American jazz and swing musician, clarinetist and bandleader

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"He would forget everybody's name, so everybody was called 'Pops'."
-- Helen Forest on Benny Goodman

"[Goodman] became famous (or notorious) for staring at a player he didn't like. It was called 'the ray' by his men."
-- Teddy Wilson

"I came dressed as I would in Hollywood, in a pair of corduroys, sweatshirt and loafers, with probably no socks, and he said, 'Where are you going, fishing?' I said, 'No, I'm coming to rehearsal' and he replied 'Go home and put a suit on, this is New York."
-- Jimmy Maxwell on Benny Goodman

"I don't understand the music but I certainly understand the girl singer!"
-- Nikita Krushchev to Benny Goodman during the latter's tour of the Soviet Union